Several New Year Philatelic Decisions

The New Year brings certain philatelic descisions like whether to renew my memberships in some stamp societies (BNAPS, RPSC, etc.), whether to continue my subscription to stamp newspaper (CSN) and whether to buy the latest newest CDN stamp catalogue (Unitrade). This is all in addition to any stamp purchases that may be contemplated. With a limited budget, it's hard to decide.

Hi Jogil. It gets a lot easier if you are on a limited budget!

Peter

I find my self in the same situation and will be stopping my publications I receive. I have established a few buyers I continue to buy from but am cutting that back also. I need to spend time on putting together what I have instead of just storing in boxes for future fun. One area I have stopped with is new US just cannot justify these, I will work on back of the book especially ducks and I have a lot of revenues to go through and identify. I started doing WW 50 years ago then went to US but I still have the desire to work on WW so this is where I will concentrate, I have about 25 plastic shoe boxes with WW in them many separated by country so I need to get these in books and I need to get rid of all the doubles, I always wonder why I need to have 30 of one stamp??

I know ikeyPikey's test is to compare the cost of whatever printed ephemera one's buying to the cost of a film and a meal. Mine is often what I could buy for the price if a cup of coffee-flavoured milk in Starbuck's. In most cases, I'd opt for the magazine or the secondhand book rather than the coffee. Of course, you have to make sure that you're not applying the test every ten minutes or so, as you browse 1p books (with £2.80 postage) on Amazon. In fact, as I speak, a young person in California is packing up a copy of a travel book by Norman Lewis and sending it to me for a gross price of £2.81. Who needs caffeine anyway?)

I scaled back my philatelic investments/involvement by a lot many years ago. Prior to that, I was a member of at least 10 societies - thoroughly enjoying all of them. When I sat down to evaluate how much I was paying for all of that fun, however, I realized that it was just too much.

I am now and plan to always be a member of the APS and the USPCS. Those two societies most closely represent my main philatelic interests. As much as I would like to be a member of other societies, I now resist that urge.

I used to get Linn's, but, much like my local city newspaper, the content reduction over time got to the point to where it simply wasn't worth paying for anymore. Sad.

The only change I have made is to subscribe to US Stamp News since it has a column on US varieties by Rudy de Mordaigle This is an area that Linn's does not cover in depth enough and the USSS society focuses more on research so discussions on peak/valley's, etc. rarely get mentioned. PNC3 has some of the best modern coverage in my opinion for modern US specialists but that is mostly around coils.

I subscribe to the digital Linn's but it is getting smaller (44 pages this week). I had resubscribed last year. I would not pay to have a printed copy.

I am also now a dues paying member of this forum.

I will probably drop APS membership. I was mostly joined to support the hobby but frankly there are much better, more relevant ways for me to spend my time and money helping the hobby.
Don

I decided not to renew my sip (Society of Israel Philatelists) membership. Last year, they switched from a printed magazine to online only. They had previously gone from 6 issues a year to 4. The problem was they never let anyone know when they posted the new updates, so I ended up never knowing when it was available. Since there is no fresh content on the site on a regular basis, it wasn't one I visited regularly, so it became something that I didn't use at all. Now, I am revisiting the annual question, do I collect new issues this year or not? Every year, I give serious thought to stopping, but I haven't yet.

Like angore, I subscribe to USSN for access to Rudy de Mordaigle's Modern Varieties column. I subscribe to Linn's digital edition. I belong to APS & USSS but am contemplating dropping out of the latter. I think the money can probably be better spent elsewhere (like supporting this forum). Almost every year now I consider whether to stop collecting modern US and start concentrating on classics. But the plethora of new issues produced each year are still a good bit cheaper than most of the early US that I might like to acquire. Still, at some point in the not too distant future, a stopping point must be reached, either as the result of conscious decision or due to the vagaries of life.

For me, I'm a life member now of APS so don't have to pay dues (43 years end of next month). I write a couple checks each year to APS to support & for tax write-off; and subscribe to print copy of APRL quarterly.

I get Portu-Info for Portuguese (26 years this year as an ISPP member). Also MEPSI for Mexico (5 yr. member); Polonus for Poland (4 yr. member); and Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library (6 yr. member). I did renew BNAPS for a second year, and the Newfoundland study group. Not sure I'll keep it after 2017. Linn's print subscription is always a "game time decision," meaning do I renew or not. Will figure that one out in May/June. Definitely do not want the Linn's digital edition.

GeoffHa: "who needs caffeine anyway?" Not me. Never drank coffee and gave up Diet-Coke in Nov., 2014. Have felt much better since.

I buy a new Unitrade every 4 to 5 years. With the exception of about 30 pages I am not interested in what comes after page 270 and there is not usually that much change in the earlier pages. BNAPS ans CPSGB subscriptions are kept up though.

AQ

I'm a member of APS and will continue that probably until they figure out I died without notifying them. I subscribe to Linn's as I have for probably 40 years and will continue to do so, although this thread has gotten me to seriously consider dropping the mailed copy and go to the online version since I spend so much time glued to the computer anyway. I retired about 6 months ago and my outlay for stamps new to my collection is minimal. I collect U.S. and my commemoratives are complete as well as airmails. I collect used primarily prior to 1890 and those items I still need are in the 4 figure range plus not very exciting so my expenditures are few and far between. Been thinking of going back to my origins and collecting worldwide, but I know my inheritors will never see any return at all on those purchases.

I am seriously considering joining one or even both of the specialist Irish societies.
I was a member of one for a few years in the 1980s.
Generally speaking I subscribe to the Groucho Marx statement. "I would never join a club that would have me as a member". I dont think it is a straight trade-off in terms of value for money. I take the pessimistic view of the future of Stamp Collecting and maybe its time to stand or fall together.

My only real decision this year was whether or not to renew my long-time subscription to Linn's, which has become the least relevant (to me) of all the stamp publications I receive. After reading this thread, I resolved my dilemma by switching my subscription to digital only. Also, regarding Kirk's comment about the ASDA magazine. I think maybe the content has changed in recent years and is now more collector-friendly. It's one of my favorites.